Foam in pond

[Iain]

Hi

I am having trouble with surface foam on my pond down stream from a waterfall. How do I get rid of this foam?

[altterrain]

 Dirt and protein in your water lead to foaming. What type of filter system are you using? Does it have a skimmer box?

Regular (every 2 weeks or so) enzyme treatment may help - http://www.pondliner.com/product/Biological-Clarifier-Plus/clean_up_bacteria

 -Brian

[Anonymous]

You can buy a bottle of stuff for foam at a garden center or lowe's  or home depot in their garden center. when i had my pond i had the same problem .  Ben

[ttrigg]

 

Iain

Brian has it dead on. 

What kind of fish?  You may be over feeding them.  Drop in the fish food, what they don't eat in 20 minutes, pick it out and dispose. 

What kind of plants do you have?  Did you over fertilize them? 

What kind of filter system do you have? Are you performing the proper maintenance for your system?

Any of these three items can cause foaming if not properly attended to.  Most foaming is due to way too many nutrients in the water. A quick fix would be a pond clarifier.  This will coagulate the nutrients so they drop to the pond bottom.  If you have a bottom drain to your pump, the filter should handle it.  Be sure to back flush and rinse the filter a bit more often for a while.  If no drain on the bottom, then you will need to vacuum out the pond bottom once a year or so.  Routine use of a barley powder product will aid in pond maintenance.

[Iain]

Hi everyone

Thanks for the tips. I have no fish in the pond. It is two ponds connected by a small "river" hence the name of my railroad is The Middle River Railroad (I also happen to live next to a river called the Middle River). The big pond is 7' in diameter  by 30 inches deep at the deepest and the small pond is 4.5' in diameter and 20 inches at the deapest. Pretty much all my plants were dead after winter and I had to fish out a lot of leaves from the pond. I am a Merchant seaman so I was late coming home this spring and was not around last autumn to clean out the leaves. (My wife did what she could). I have a Laguna filter outside the pond which has three layers, mechanical, foam and biological filters. I have no skimmer filter. I was intending to give the whole pond a complete water change and liner cleaning. Aside from a couple of frogs, some dragon fly larva and various water insects there is not much life in my pond. I am reluctant to put netting in the pond to catch leaves as I am not sure if it may trap some of the birds that use the ponds (I have two ducks that use it every spring to have a wash and rinse after they eat some of the birdseed we put out for pheasants, big pond wash...little pond rinse).

 I'll try the clarifier first before I change the water. You know I have managed to get more information from you guys here about pond maintenence that there is in all the water garden books I have. Thanks again. I'm going to print out all your posts and keep them on file. Hopefully when I finally manage to retire from the sea I can really start to enjoy my railroad. I have also spent about three weeks clearing the right of way of all plants, ground covers and other weeds. As I was away last summer it grew over pretty well. Right how I just have to relay all the track, fortunately my railroad is still simple, basically a big dogbone style with only one turnout for a grain elevator.

Cheers,

 Iain

[ttrigg]

Iain

not around last autumn to clean out the leaves. . . . . . . . . I was intending to give the whole pond a complete water change and liner cleaning. . . . . . . . . I'll try the clarifier first before I change the water. . . . . . . You know I have managed to get more information from you guys here about pond maintenence that there is in all the water garden books I have. Thanks again.

Iain: Rotting leaves will cause massive foam. Save your water, dump in a gallon of Clorox bleach. Since you have no plants and no fish, a high chlorine content will fix your problem. Chlorine is deadly to fish and plants. In strong enough concentrations it will also break down the nutrients. Chlorine will also remove any and all algae. Go by the nearest swimming pool supply and get the chlorine taps, drop one in your filter each month and you should be good to go.  The guys here have lots of first hand experience in most areas of expertise and are most willing to help out.  My pond is just 2,000 gallons, with Koi and many plants.  The water belongs to me, the fish and plants belong to "da boss".